asia-pacific 18 | ocean WATER MAR K Strong Entry List For Darwin-Kupang-Bali Rally The Darwin-Kupang-Bali Rally had a 60+ fleet of cruisers heading out into the Arafura Sea late July. This event is gaining strength again as a means of funneling an eclectic selection of multi-flag Pacific voyagers into the "prime passages of Asia's exotic seas and straits". Every contestant gets a three-month Indonesian cruising pass as part of the modest entry fee, neatly avoiding any red tape hassles that bureaucracy may otherwise decree. Organiser is Canadian Dick McCune of Royal Bali Yacht Club and the Indonesian Yachting Association. It used to be run by Darwin Sailing Club's David Woodhouse, but the "international cruising set" wanted to avoid onerous and expensive rules and regulations introduced in Australia after the tragic 1998 Sydney- Hobart Race, figuring that some globe-girding yachties had stayed afloat successfully for more than a decade, so they could probably survive another 1000 nm without having to buy new Australian- designated safety gear. "Official" organiser status was thus switched to less-stringent Indonesia. This was Australia's oldest international event. It started as the Darwin-Dili Dash in the 1970s and switched, when Indonesia annexed Portuguese Timor, to the 600 nm Darwin-Ambon Race. Fierce fighting broke out between Christians and Muslims in the Malukus a few years ago, leading to thousands of deaths, so the annual race was changed again to the 1000 nm Darwin-Bali course. A related non-stop race still takes place sporadically, with Darwin surgeon Dr Jon Wardell the leading light in his 55 foot cold moulded Jack Cassidy design Australian Maid - but problems with "The Maid" of late have left his ongoing participation in doubt. Guns and "Pirates" Myths Sent Packing Western Australian yachtsman Chris Packer has been keeping a low profile since spending three months in a Bali jail for failing to declare having weapons aboard his latest long-range cruising vessel. The grapevine says that a disaffected crew "dobbed him in", and another debate has ensued over whether weapons for possible self-protection from "pirates" should be carried. If an owner does decide to arm his vessel, definitely declare all guns when entering foreign ports in these security-conscious times. OCEAN writer Bruce Maxwell was a guest speaker at the recent Yangon to Manila Bay marine tourism symposium in Kuala Lumpur, on the subject False Perceptions of Piracy Against Pleasure Boats in Asia. The full text is posted on the popular cruiser web address noonsite.com, but basically he said that if one googles the words "Piracy Pleasure Boats Asia" an astonishing 15,000 references come up. And yet there have only been half a dozen relatively minor thefts from pleasure boats, some while unattended, in the last 15 years. Blamed for the false impression was the relatively new, Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre, funded by the International Maritime Organisation, which enthusiastically reports ongoing attacks, but doesn't distinguish between commercial shipping and pleasure boats. Moves are afoot to try to eradicate the "sea robbers", who lurk mostly in tiny Sumatran islands and dash out to board big ships with grappling hooks in the Malacca Straits. The concept of "hot pursuits" by Asian navies into each other's territorial waters is gaining credibility. www.noonsite.com New Vietnam Base For Sunsail Charters Australian Greg Boller, Commercial Manager for Sunsail Asia-Pacific, told the Yangon-Manila Bay symposium that the international yacht charter company was about to open its newest base in Nga Trang, Vietnam, a pleasant coastal city with interesting cruising waters, to which Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club also directs its biannual Hong Kong-Vietnam Race, next scheduled for 2006. Sunsail already has bases in Phuket and Langkawi, which are only 100 nm apart, and at Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, as well as in the Seychelles, the Whitsundays and French Polynesia. "Altogether we have 1151 bareboats operating in 23 countries," he said. Apart from bareboat charters, there are Sunsail bareboat flotillas, luxury charters, sailing schools, corporate sailing programs, beach club resorts and yachting partnerships, under which an owner buys and leases back into charter. "We have a whole quiver of products," he said. "Some drop in, and some drop out." Boller said 95 per cent of charterers in the Asia-Pacific region were foreign or regionally-based expats, and there was a need to increase local participation, but Sunsail was stretched finding the human resources for training and education. He was particularly disparaging about the marketing value of Asian boat shows, "where visitation levels are really very poor," and thought that one Asian event should tour the principal cities of Southeast Asia and East Asia. www.sunsail.com.au Malaysia 2005 The 38 m Royal Huisman motorsailer Diamond For E ver has left Raffles Marina in Singapore to go whale watching off Queensland